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The first 12 years of my life were spent in one home. From that point on I moved about once a year (family job transfers, college, and more), until I was in my mid 20s, finally settling down in the Lowcountry. And exactly three years ago, I purchased my first home in Snee Farm, where we live today.

My home, for the first 12 years of my life in Bristol, VA.

One of my first memories of homeownership was a call from the Homeowner's Association, just a few days after I had moved in. If my memory serves me right, it was the president of the board and she was calling to welcome me and review a few 'rules' of my new neighborhood. But what really stuck with me was a comment she made casually while we were chatting, "Oh honey, I've lived here since it really was a farm". It seemed unbelievable. Who was this gal? She sounded decently young. So, I went to research Snee Farm as a farm and found it really wasn't that long ago that this part of Mt. Pleasant was considered 'far out' and farm land. The full early history of Snee Farm (going all the way back to the ice age and including references to Sewee Indians and president, George Washington) is documented by the community foundation, but an excerpt below explains the transformation into a neighborhood:

"In 1966, the plantation was purchased by Snee Farm Golf Club, and the (main) house and adjoining grounds by Joyce and Guilds Hollowell. The Hollowells continued restoration, and in 1974 the house was designated a National Historical Landmark. The Friends of Snee Farm purchased the historic house and its 28 acres in the late 1980’s. The core of Snee Farm is now known as the Charles Pinckney National Historic Site, a unit of the National Park Service." - Originally Researched and Written in 1976 by Skippy Adkins Amended October, 2007 by Dottie Teetor, Assisted by Carlin Timmons of the National Park Service

Stretching it out after a bike ride

And what a neighborhood it is! Today, it has over 900 single family homes on the residential side of the property. Some of our dog-walking friends (whose ears must have been burning because they called me while I was writing this) have owned their home since the early 1980s, when most homes were just breaking ground. A snippet from the Dunes site on Snee Farm:

The homes in this neighborhood range in price from $150,000 for townhomes to $800,000 for homes in the Manor Section, overlooking the golf course or lagoons. With a wide variety of architecture, Snee Farm has a home to match everyone’s style, whether it is contemporary, colonial, ranch, lowcountry, or tudor." - DunesProperties.com

My family (that's my husband, Trevor and dog, Miles) particularly enjoy the lake views on our walks and bike rides, access to Palmetto Islands County Park, and the short drive to Boone Hall Farms (our CSA starts this month!). Last year on July 4th, we had friends in town and were on our way to the beach when we made a u-turn to ditch traffic and head back to our neighborhood pool. Once we arrived, we realized there was a celebration planned, where parents were participating in competitive pool games like the 'kid toss' and oiled watermelon pass. Endless entertainment, I'll tell you. To say the Snee Farm Swim Team is popular with residents, would be an understatement. This summer is the team's 45th anniversary and they've won nearly 30 championships. The team practices twice a day, also offering swim lessons to residents and beyond.